The Algerian army has for several days tracked an alleged al-Qaeda member thought to have come to the northern part of the country to meet with a leader of a main rebel group, according to various Algerian press reports Sunday.

The army has tracked the man, identified as a Yemeni, near Bouira, a town some 120 kilometers east of Algiers, according to reports in the Expression and El Khabar newspapers.

Authorities believe the man came to Bouira to meet with Hassan Hattab, the leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), considered by the army to be the largest of Algeria's armed extremist groups.

The man is believed to be a deputy of an al-Qaeda member, Emad Abdelwahid Ahmed Alwan, another Yemeni, who was killed by security forces back in September and was thought to have been the member of Osama bin Laden's network responsible for North Africa. (Albawaba.com)